Breath
by LynnAgate
Summary: Max takes an Eyes Only job that goes awry, sending her into the ocean locked in a safe. Will Alec save her in time? Disclaimer: Dark Angel is owned by James Cameron and Charles H. Eglee. For entertainment purposes only.
1. Chapter 1

Logan had asked Max to go out to Leo Fiori's yacht in the middle of the night to break into the onboard safe and get the proof he needed to out the man for his nefarious dealings with the mob. _Of course_, she had said. _Are you sure? _he had asked, _the guy lives out in Mount Vernon_. Max had thought about it. _No sweat. _ She was up for an adventure and she had shark DNA anyway and didn't sleep very much.

She was hanging out with Original Cindy, watching a pre-pulse movie she'd never seen when Original Cindy finally fell asleep, leaving Max ample time to duck out of their apartment and head toward the docks.

It was a cold night and her breath came out like cigarette smoke, rising above the cold air into the night sky. She knew she found the right yacht when she saw "Fiori's Fire" painted at the aft of one of the longer yachts. It helped that he was extravagant with little multi-colored lantern lights strung along the edge of the vessel.

She was about to step onto the boat when she heard someone with a heavy New York accent call out to her.

"Just where do you think you're going?"

Max spun around to see what had to be one of Fiori's lieutenants with two heavily armed guards standing behind him. They raised their guns, pointing them directly at her.

"Um, isn't this, like, Gabby's party?" she asked in full-on valley girl.

"I don't think so, sweetheart," the lieutenant said. The two guards approached her and motioned to knock her out. While she was distracted with blocking their jabs, the lieutenant tased her. Max fell to the floor, immobilized. The lieutenant laughed, then pulled a second taser out. He shot her again, into unconsciousness.

The next time she opened her eyes, she was locked in a little steel box. It didn't seem to have any flaps or sides that were moveable. She tried to feel around inside, but there was no light source and not a lot of rom. She could hear some men laughing and the water fast underneath them.

"Throw it overboard," she heard the lieutenant's voice command.

Max knocked around inside the box as it was picked up and carried, presumably, to the side of the yacht.

_This can't be it,_ she thought. It would be no use screaming. They were going to toss her overboard in a heavy box, and it would sink, and she would hold her breath for as long as possible while it filled with seawater before finally, she would drown.

Max panicked and started pushing against the sides of the box with all of her might. But it was to no avail. She was trapped. She felt the millisecond of weightlessness as the men let go of the box. It hit the water with a big splash, and as water started to fill the box, she heard the slapping water sound dwindle into nothingness.

Fully underwater and sinking fast, she tried to think about a way out of this. That's when she heard it. The tiniest sound of a dial clicking.

_I'm in the fucking safe!_ Max realized with a jolt that there must have been someone out there waiting for the boat to disappear before they could attempt to rescue her. But it couldn't be Logan – he would have had a forklift or a crane or something on stand-by to lift the box out of the water, and there wouldn't have been enough time to plan that. Plus, he couldn't lift it himself.

Whoever this was, they were trying to crack the combination. It had to be someone with enhanced hearing. It had to be Alec. _Oh, please, let it be Alec! Let it be Alec who followed me out here!_

After eleven and a half minutes underwater, she felt the pressure change and knew she was going to drown. She couldn't hold her breath anymore. She instinctively tried to suck in air and water came in instead, filling her mouth, her nose, her ears and eyes, her lungs. Though she wanted to cough it out, she couldn't force anything out with no breath.

_This is it._

Her childhood flashed before her – those years at Manticore with her brothers and sisters. Even Lydecker came to mind. Breaking out, staying with transients and families, moving from place to place and taking odd jobs to survive. Coming to Crash and meeting the daring and stylish Original Cindy. Hiring that punk-ass P.I. Vogelsang. Meeting Logan and him already knowing her secret. Finding and losing her brothers and sisters. Meeting the cocky and undeniably good-looking Alec.

Max's world faded like a dying light. Nothingness.

When she regained consciousness, she couldn't open her eyes. She could feel someone's lips on hers, desperately trying to fill her with oxygen. It wasn't anyone's lips she recognized. She felt the gravel and sand under her fingertips and against her skin, but she couldn't grasp it.

She felt so far away. Was she on her way to heaven? Or maybe the other place. The basement with the nomalies… She nearly panicked. Why couldn't she reach the surface an open her eyes and shout out that she was alive?

She could hear a faint mumbling, but it seemed so far away, like a masked iris off in the vanishing point of an infinite painting. The voice was rasping, "Come on, Max, wake up. Don't die. I can't do this without you." There was a harsh need in that husky voice.

The person's hands felt like a cold, heavy rock against her chest, pressing harder and harder. They cracked her rib. She would have cried out in pain if she could have. Then the warmth of their lips on hers returned, inflating her lungs. It hurt like hell, the pressure. Her heart beat violently in her chest.

"Come back to me, Max," the voice gruffed. "Come on, Maxie."

_Alec._


	2. Chapter 2

Alec pushed more air into her lungs and prepared for another round of chest compressions. This was not how he'd imagine their lips would meet, but her lips were soft and cold, and he longed to warm them. But now was not the time to dilly-dally with _emotions_.

Max felt her soul scratching against her insides, trying to make itself known, trying to break out of the prison of her body. She felt the urge to throw up. Fire seemed to course through her veins, burning her blood to a boil as it stung up her veins from her toes to her head.

Finally, freedom! She coughed what felt like the entire ocean up onto her chest and felt a strong hand support her neck, helping her to sit upright.

"Maxie! Can you hear me?"

She slowly opened her eyes. Before her kneeled a drenched, worried-looking Alec. It could have been tears or water on his face, she wasn't sure.

Max felt her stinging eyes, and wondered illogically how she could have any more liquid in her body. She shut her eyes tight and though she tried to calm down, she was sobbing uncontrollably. "Alec," she said between sobs. The warm tears were coming on full-boar against her cold cheeks.

Alec pulled her to him in a gentle, but firm, hug. "Shhh," he comforted, one hand resting comfortably at the back of her head, stroking her wet hair. "I got cha, you're okay, you're alive."

Max admonished herself for crying. Soldiers didn't cry.

"Max, don't do that again, okay?" Alec pleaded.

Max shivered. She was very suddenly aware of the cold of her whole body. She was soaked to the bone. She felt tired.

She must have nodded off. When she woke up, she felt submerged again, and panicked, thrashing her arms out for the surface. She felt the pain in her ribs and winced.

"Easy, Maxie," she heard Alec from behind her. She was lying in his arms in the bathtub, both of them fully clothed. "Your core temp was too low. I had to find a way to heat you up fast."

Max felt relieved. "How long have I been out?" her voice scratched.

"About an hour," he replied.

She made no further attempt to move. She sucked in some beautiful air, and winced again.

"I think I broke your rib," he said. "Sorry."

Max tilted her head to try to see his face, but she couldn't.

"Anyway, they don't have any robes here, so I'll bring you the sheet from the bed. Okay?"

Alec motioned to get out of the tub. Max didn't want him to go. She wasn't ready for his absence. But he was right, she needed to get out of the tub and into something dry, but they were in some motel bathroom somewhere and they don't have random clothes for someone to wear.

He closed the door between them and she heard him shuffling about in the room.

She slowly sat up fully, unplugging the stopper from the drain. Alec had already removed her shoes, socks, and jacket, hanging the latter over the towel rack.

She looked at her feet. They looked wrinkly but not pale.

She stood up in the tub, unbuttoning and unzipping her jeans, peeling them down her body weakly. She carefully raised her tank top over her head, letting it fall to the bathwater.

A soft rapping came at the door. "Max?"

Max climbed out of the bathtub and stood behind the door. She opened it a crack and his arm shot in with the sheet. She took the sheet and he closed the door from the outside as she set the sheet on the toilet lid.

She removed her bra and underwear with some difficulty, her cracked rib reminding her of itself. Drying herself off with the bath towel, she looked into the mirror. Her face seemed slightly pale, but the warmth of the water returned some color to her cheeks. She shivered. Even in the fog of the warm air, she still felt the chill of her near-death.

She doubled over with little pain and twisted her hair into the other bath towel, tucking one end under securely.

Max wrapped herself in the sheet. It circled her twice over before she turned the knob on the door, opening it a little. She pulled her arm in against herself, stuffing the corner of the sheet in at her neck. She used her foot to open the door the rest of the way.

She saw Alec's bare back first. His shoulders had tiny little beads of water on them, which threatened at any moment to slide down the curve of his muscles and absorb into the towel stretched taut over his waist. She felt a couple of degrees warmer just watching him. He was looking out the window, she thought, but what for?

He must have heard the bathroom door open. "Do you need help?" he asked, keeping his back to her.

Max looked down at the sheet. She just needed to get warm. She padded her way over to the bed and laid on it. Hearing the springs move with her slight weight, he turned.

Her sight was immediately drawn to his face, again twisted with concern. _Why is he so upset? I'm alive, and it's because of him, and can't he see that I'm fine? Just a little shaken up, but I'm not dead. _"Cold," she managed in a rasp, snuggling herself in the sheet and tucking her feet into the drawn-down blanket.

Alec crossed the few feet between them and brought the blanket up over her shoulders. He rubbed the line from her shoulder to elbow to create the heated friction. "Better?" he asked after a good couple of rubs. She nodded.

_I wish he'd stop and just hold me again. Safe._

Alec went into the bathroom and closed the door.

With her back to the door, Max's face twitched into a sadness she didn't understand. Never before had someone's absence had such an effect on her. Her lungs felt a pressure again as she held her breath, trying not to let those tears break the dam. She heard the hum of the hair dryer through the door.

For over an hour.

For over an hour, he'd been in there, drying. She had turned to face the door and eventually fell asleep.

Finally, the door opened, waking her, and he came out wearing his boxers and carrying her undergarments. "Max," he said. He kneeled on the bed with one knee.

Even though she was awake, she longed for his touch. She feigned sleeping until he reached out and rubbed her shoulder gently with his warm hand. "Max."

She opened her eyes. To a chestfull of Alec. Which she stared at for a little longer than she intended.

He laid her bra and panties on the bed. "Your underthings are dry," he said, noticing the slight blush he had just given her.

He sat on the bed with his back to her. Max stared at his back, similarly to how she had done an hour ago. She untangled herself from the sheet and pulled on the warm garments. She wrapped herself back in the sheets. "Thanks."

Alec turned to face her. He reached for the towel at her head and untwisted it, dropping it to the ground as her hair fell loosely around her shoulders.

"What happened, Max?" he asked. "Was this a mission for Logan?"

Max nodded. It was a little hard to talk, but she pushed. "I got caught."

Alec looked away. "That son of a bitch! Max, you almost died tonight! When is enough enough?"

Max sat up, clutching the sheet over her chest. "It's not his fault. He didn't force me to take this mission."

Alec returned his stare to her. "Max, I don't know what I would have done…"

Max looked down, a couple strands of hair shading her face. "I'm sorry."

Alec reached toward her and cupped her face one-handedly. They looked into one another's eyes and shared an understanding. She saw a glint of something occur to him.

He had a thought, a dangerous thought.


	3. Chapter 3

Max felt totally safe, even in just her undergarments and a sheet. The Lydeckers and Bruno Anselmos and Normals of the world couldn't touch her. Only one person could touch her and he was sitting across from her on the cranberry-blanketed motel bed, staring into her with the most complicated, beautiful hazel-green stare she'd ever seen. "How did you find me?"

Alec's hand fell from her cheek and he rested it on the bed. He turned away from her gaze, an action she just didn't understand. Weren't they alone, here, if nowhere else? Wouldn't now be the time to be honest? She felt a protest growing in her throat. _Don't look away,_ she found herself thinking. They could say so much more without speaking.

_Like the way he clutched me to him after he saved my life_. _Like the way he looked at me outside the club when we were dealing with the mermaid, the flash of excitement in those eyes. Like the way he shoved that knife into the meadow bed instead of my chest when White tried to scatter his brains. Like that predatory gaze he washed over me with when he first stepped into my cell._

"I don't know. I just had this feeling that something was wrong. And then, I don't know…" he trailed, keeping his stare away, the expression on his face conveying that what he was thinking was crazy.

_Not crazy, _she thought. _It was instinct. Emotion. Something other than the practical tactical._

"What?" she managed.

Alec swallowed hard. "And then I saw you leaving town and I just, something felt like I had to follow you. So I did."

Max's eyes widened at his confession. Not that he saw, though; his eyes were still trained at the industrial-grade carpeting. _He followed me out here, over an hour on his motorcycle, to jump into freezing cold water and crack a safe over who-knows-how-many-feet-deep underwater because 'something felt like' he had to follow me?_

Alec returned to her eyes, a cover-up smile attached at his lips. "Guess it's a good thing I did, huh?"

Max thought about him, sitting across from her on a shabby motel mattress in just his boxers, flashing her a fake smile because he was too embarrassed to take credit for saving her life. That wasn't like him. This was different.

"You're like my guardian angel or something," she said roughly, smiling for the first time since he pumped that needed oxygen into her.

Alec blushed. The first time she'd ever seen him blush at something.

_Maybe he's scared._

Max let the sheet fall as she reached out to fold her fingers around his hand on the bed. He looked down at their hands, a stream of aching emotion washing over him.

"Alec," she said.

He met her stare. "Just don't do that again, okay?" he asked, the wild look in his eyes trying to translate itself into Max's mind. _Wild with what? Desperation?_

Alec struggled to get the words out that were bumping around the corners of his mind. Maybe she understood a hint of what he was working toward, but he could see the hesitation on her face. She didn't understand why this was so important to him. She'd done dozens of jobs for Eyes Only, for Logan, and she was fine.

"What if I was too late?" he finally offered, dejectedly.

Max pulled her hand back to her lap, surprised. She was sitting right here with him, and he was contemplating what it would have felt like to have lost her? She was so confused by what was happening in his mind._ Did he think this was a dream?_

Alec saddened by the loss of her hand's warmth on his. He looked down, pulling his own hand back.

Max wasn't sure what to do. She imagined everything she had, everyone she had, disappearing. For the second time tonight. She wasn't used to this, to whether she was there or not mattering to anyone. She lifted her head and watched Alec's eyes dart anywhere but back to hers.

She leaned forward slowly with both hands stretched forward, and placed them at the sides of his face, trying to still his eyes. "Alec," she almost whispered. He looked to her, finally.

Max trickled her hands down his neck, across his broad shoulders, down his muscled arms, and pulled at his hands. His eyes followed the path as if an essence was traveling through him and would transfer to her through his fingertips. Max held his left hand and pulled at his right until she placed it palm-down over her heart, which was beating with a slightly quickened pace. _Because of you._

Alec held his breath, waiting for her to let go, but she wouldn't. He looked from her hand to her face. Daring tears slipped out the corner of her eye, falling from her cheek onto his hand at her heart. "You didn't lose me, Alec, I'm right here."

Alec's eyebrows twisted with concern.

She knew.

Max leaned back on the bed, forcing Alec to lean forward. She refused to let his hand free. She couldn't now. Now that she felt the perfection of his skin on hers, his hand over her heart – making it beat faster, his gaze on hers conveying something outside of language, something abstract, she couldn't lose it. He crawled down on the bed next to her, each transgenic on their sides, facing one another.

Max's hair was cold but she didn't notice. These abstract things they were feeling had enough warmth to them.

They laid there, frozen in position and staring into one another. Every hurt, every pain, every excited smile rushed through their minds. Every happy time, every appreciation, every heartbeat floated between them. Their shared pasts and separate lives met halfway in the stares. Alec blinked a couple of times, quickly and hard, as Max inched closer to him. He slipped an arm under her neck, Max resting her head on his bicep.

Finally, she removed her hand from the one that held his at her heart, and hesitantly reached between his arm and his side, trekking over the terrain of his skin so her hand rested at his back. Though no longer required, he still kept his hand at her heart.

Finally, he slid his hand up to her shoulder then swept it around to her back, pulling her closer. Pulling her to his chest, where they no longer could stare into one another with such an absolute honesty. He wrapped his arms around her, tucking her head into his neck and chest, and enveloping her in his embrace.

"You take the breath right out of me," he said slightly above a whisper, tightening his grasp on the angel in his arms.

And she cried. He held his breath for a moment as a small tear snuck out of the corner of his eye and absorbed into the pillow.

They fell to sleep, Max surrounded by him – and though he held her as if hanging on for his own life, he was surrounded by her, too.


End file.
